The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Pennisetum alopecuroides herein referred to as ‘Tift H18’.
The new Pennisetum alopecuroides is a product of a planned research, evaluation, and testing program conducted by the Inventors in Tifton, Ga. The objective of the Pennisetum alopecuroides research program is to create a new plant cultivar with reduced seed production. This cultivar is commercially important for its superior ornamental value and low seed production. These and other qualities are enumerated herein.
Pedigree and history: Pennisetum alopecuroides accessions and cultivars are known to produce abundant seed. Seed production in commercial ornamental cultivars of Pennisetum alopecuroides tends to make this genus/species invasive, an undesirable trait in landscapes. In the summer of 2008, we harvested open-pollinated seed from vegetatively propagated plants of Pennisetum alopecuroides var. Hameln growing in the field at Tifton, Ga. We established plants from the 2008 open-pollinated seed in a greenhouse in spring 2009 and transplanted 400 of these plants to a field in May 2009. Fifty of these 400 plants with the best morphological characteristics were selected and open-pollinated seed was harvested in 2010 from these fifty plants. In 2010, we irradiated half of the harvested open-pollinated seed with 10 Kr and the other half of these seeds with 15 Kr Cobalt 60 gamma radiation. These irradiated seeds were planted in a field in 2010 to produce 323 plants; 169 plants from the 10 Kr treated seed and 154 plants from the 15 Kr treated seed. Eleven plants out of these 323 plants with one or no seed per inflorescence were selected. Irradiation of seeds usually results in chimeras or sectors on the plants for the trait of interest. Therefore, each of these 11 selected plants was divided into four quadrants or sectors (a, b, c, and d) and five or more inflorescences from each quadrant of each plant were examined for seed sterility.
We determined that six (numbered 1 through 6) of these selected eleven plants had desirable ornamental and morphological characteristics. These six plants were asexually propagated by stem propagules from the a, b, c, and d quadrants on the plants and transplanted to the field in 2011. As many propagules as possible were obtained from each quadrant. Inflorescences from plants from six propagules from quadrant b of plant 4 of plants 1-6 (plant 4 being a plant from one of the 15 Kr treated seed) set various amounts of seed, but a plant from one propagule (field entry 133) produced no seed and became ‘Tift H18’. ‘Tift H18’ has been tested at Tifton, Ga. in 2012, 2014, and 2015 and at Blairsville, Ga. in 2013 and 2015. Tests consisted of five and four single plant replications arranged in a randomized complete block experiment at Tifton, Ga. and Blairsville, Ga., respectively. Seven other experimental entries were included in each test. ‘Tift PA24’ was selected as a seed fertile check with desirable ornamental characteristics from Tift PS1122. ‘Tift PA24’ also produced abundant pollen for pollinating the experimental seed sterile cultivars in the replicated tests to make sure that the experimental sterile cultivars would not set seed when pollinated with pollen from another genotype. We selected ‘Tift PA24’ as the seed fertile check
Asexual reproduction of the new Pennisetum ‘Tift H18’ by vegetative propagation (single stem propagules) in a controlled environment in Tifton, Ga. and Blairsville, Ga. from 2012 through 2015, has shown that the unique features of this new Pennisetum cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.